Sound the Bugle
by Bene-C
Summary: Song fic - Sunstreaker is capture and under goes torment and torture, while Sideswipe tries to deal with being on his own, but when events unfold more pain and regret than the twins had ever felt comes their way.


**A/N:** hello, I really should be writing the next chapters for Keep on Shining and Traitor but for now I give you something I wrote ages ago. Enjoy =]

**Disclaimer:** 'Sound the bugle' belongs to Brain Adams and 'The Transformers' belong to Hasbro.

0o0o0o

_Sound the bugle now,_

_Play it just for me,_

Sunstreaker spat at his captives as they threw him into a dark cell. The cruel mechs parted with names and curses, he was on his own. After they had left he picked him self up gingerly, when he assed the damage he found both his helmfins were gone, ripped off my darks hands. Energon leaked from many places, funny thing is, he couldn't feel one bit of pain. Sunstreaker gazed out of the energy bars that held him; he cast his mind back to the battle, to where it all went wrong, to how he got captured. Despite his best efforts, Sunstreaker found himself thinking about his brother. His twin.

_As the seasons change,_

_Remember how I used to be,_

Sideswipe sat in the empty room. He was alone for the first time in his life. Every thing was darker, colder like the decepticons had taken away his personal sun. They had. Battle after battle they had fought together, smashing the odds into the ground, like many decepticon jets. Sunstreaker was gone; he was a prisoner of war now. Sideswipe winced and placed a hand over his spark, it was painful to think about. War had changed Sunstreaker, Sideswipe didn't like what he had been changed into, he lay down on Sunstreaker's berth as tears slipped down his face. For that one moment, time stopped, allowing the red twin to lose himself in his memories.

_Now I cant go on,_

_I can't even start,_

The cell grew smaller every moment he stayed in it. It was horrible, the only time someone came down was to kick him about, hurt him even more, he didn't even have the strength to fight back anymore. The energy bars evaporated into the air, allowing a seeker to enter. The seeker grabbed his once golden arm and yanked him to his feet. The autobots hadn't come for him yet, why hadn't they come? Sunstreaker kept his optics down as he was lead into a room, it was bare apart from chains he had become familiar with. The seeker slapped him across the face with a deafening crack. Sunstreaker didn't react, which made the seeker angry.

_I've got nothing left,_

_Just an empty heart,_

So drained of energy, Sunstreaker didn't even flinch as the whip was brought down on him. He didn't bother to see who it was attacking him, he didn't care, he needed to get back to his brother. If he had his brother with him they could have busted out together and slag the 'cons for all their worth but no, the autobot hadn't come and his once hopeful spark turned cold.

"Filth" the seeker hissed at him.

The same names the same comments, it didn't matter. No one was coming, not that they would, they hated him, they were glad he was gone.

_I'm a soldier,_

_Wounded so I must give up the fight,_

Sunstreaker lay still in a pool of his own Energon once again; his once perfect body was now covered in lacerations. He didn't bother to try and get up this time; he would only get kicked down again. What was the point of fighting? He was wounded in more than one way; he had been betrayed by the mechs he called his comrades. There was that human saying, if you cant beat them, join them and right now that sounded better than dying without pride, without dignity. For the first time since he entered the room, Sunstreaker looked the seeker in the optics, Starscream's blood optics shone brightly.

_There's nothing more for me,_

_Lead me away…_

_Or leave me lying here,_

Sideswipe was devastated. Prowl had just informed him that they didn't have the resources to rescue his brother. He sank to the flood into a quivering pile of metal. How could they not rescue Sunstreaker? They had to! They couldn't leave him with the decepticons! They just couldn't!

"Prowl please" he wept. Prowl just place a reassuring hand on his shoulder and walked away. Fresh tears rolled down the red twin's face, they weren't going to get Sunstreaker, how could they leave him? Sideswipe curled up on himself, sobbing alone.

_Sound the bugle now,_

_Tell them I don't care,_

_There's not a road I know,_

_That leads to anywhere,_

The decepticon med-bay was softer on the optics than the autobot one; the purple was soothing instead of grating like orange. He sat up and looked himself over. Once golden paint had been replaced with glossy, ebony black. He recalled what lead him to now, last night he pledged himself to _Megatron_ and then was dragged away for emergency repairs. He wasn't _Sunstreaker_ anymore; he was _Nightstreaker_ a decepticon warrior. Nightstreaker knew that he couldn't go back now; he had to find a way to move forward. A blue seeker entered the med-bay and gestured for Nightstreaker to follow him. They entered the main communications room and Megatron was talking to Optimus.

"Prime, just informing you that I have acquired another strong troop." The warlord sneered.

"Who would that be Megatron" Nightstreaker hissed, they had already forgotten about him.

"I'm surprised you haven't guessed Prime." The gun looked at his new soldier, "Nightstreaker, come, introduce yourself."

_Without a light feat that I will,_

_Stumble in the dark,_

_Lay right down,_

_Decide not to go on,_

Everyone in the communications room stared unable to move. A black and purple mech glared at them with blood red optics. He looked like Sunstreaker, but it wasn't him. Sideswipe was shaking, that wasn't his brother, it couldn't be.

"Sunny…" he moaned unable to stand. The mech sneered.

"Sunstreaker is dead, you left him to die."

That was the final blow.

Sideswipe collapsed, he felt like his whole world had imploded and left no evidence of it ever being there. The tears flowed freely once more as he look up at the ghost of his brother.

"Please… Sunny please! Remember who you are!"

_Then from on high,_

_Somewhere in the distance,_

_There's a voice that calls,_

_Remember who you are,_

Ten stellar-cycles had passed, and within them a long line of brave mechs. Nightstreaker had proven himself to Megatron and now stood loyally at the warlord's right hand side as his SIC. Starscream tried one too many times to over throw Megatron and was stripped of his rank, no one knew where Starscream stayed anymore, no one cared. Megatron made note to watch his second closely, lately he had been having random fits of fury, which was useful on the battle field where he would tear through autobots like pathetic human paper, but it wasn't so good when half the army ended up in med-bay. Right now the black mech seemed calm.

"Autobot signal detected" Soundwave's dull voice rang through the command deck. Megatron saw Nightstreaker smirk and abruptly leave. Megatron was satisfied the autobot was no longer a threat, little did he know Nightstreaker knew who the autobot was, Sideswipe wanted to talk.

_If you lose yourself,_

_Your courage soon will follow,_

_So be strong tonight,_

_Remember who you are,_

Nightstreaker stood on the cliff glaring at the approaching red Lamborghini. How dare this autobot come into decepticon territory, smiling to himself, the SIC slipped behind some cover and dampened down his signal. This should be fun, taking out the mech that plagued him for the past stellar-cycles. He crouched down lower as the car sped past and screeched to a stop at the cliff edge. Sideswipe transformed and fell to his knees, letting out a painful wail. Using his new found skills; Nightstreaker crept up on the autobot and unsheathed a short dagger. Just before he was about to let the blade bury it's self in the red mech's back, the red mech called his old name.

"Sunstreaker…"

the black mech stepped back in shock as Sideswipe spun round, he was not expecting this.

"Sunny… you came" the red twin's face was streaked in tears. Something clicked inside Nightstreaker, all the pain and betrayal he carried with him vanished, sorrow filled its place within him. What had he done? Without thinking he pulled his brother into a tight embrace. How could he have left Sideswipe on his own?

"I'm so sorry Sideswipe, I… I'm so sorry" the decepticon felt tears well in his optics but he had learnt how to hold them back, he didn't want to cry, crying meant weakness to decepticons but somehow, that single tear escaped and slid down his face. This is how it's meant to be, this is who he was, he had forgotten what it felt like to be Sunstreaker. After a while they parted, heading to towards their respected bases. On landing Nightstreaker was grabbed by two mechs, he hissed and thrashed but was still when a black hand smacked him over the face.

"Weakling" growled Megatron. Nightstreaker felt himself being dragged somewhere, but one thought kept him strong, _remember who you are_.

_Yeah you're a soldier now,_

_Fighting in a battle,_

Once again Nightstreaker found himself in a dark cell, missing his helmfins and leaking Energon. He couldn't care less about the damage, he just cared if Sideswipe got away and how he was going to get out of the decepticon brig. Sighing miserably he sat in the corner, trying to use his dark paint job as camouflage. He must have fallen into recharge because he woke with a start when lazer fire sounded through the thick metal, walls. If it was a fight Starscream must have started it, he always did. He slipped deeper into the dark corner and tucked his knees into him. He grinned when a couple of mech tumbled through the door of the brig, when a red and black mech strutted in, his grin grew wider. Sideswipe had come for him!

"Stay back Sunny!" he called as he shot the controls to the cell. The controls exploded and Nightstreaker bounded out, grabbing the weapons from the fallen mechs.

"Come on Sideswipe, lets get out of here"

_To be free once more,_

_Yeah that's worth fighting for._

When he awoke, he was greeted with orange, never before was he so happy to see that ugly, disgusting colour. He sat up slowly taking time to look himself over, his black paint was back to gold and it was polished. He was Sunstreaker again! He was him again! Sunstreaker leapt off the med-berth and looked for his brother. There he was, recharging in the chair next to his berth.

"Wake up afthead"

Sideswipe jerked awake and stared at Sunstreaker, it was like he'd seen a ghost, well he had, Sunstreaker had been dead for so long.

"Sunny!"

Once again Sunstreaker felt an urged to hug his brother.

"Thank you Sides, you saved me" Sideswipe shook his head and looked Sunstreaker in the Optics.

"No Sunny, you saved yourself"

0o0o0o

**F/N: **sorry if it was bad, as I said I wrote it ages ago lol. The adventures of Nightstreaker might become a story I don't know yet.


End file.
